What Everybody Ought to Know About Vitamins & Minerals | Diet and Exercise | Real Life Fitness | PhitZone

Your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals

You hear it all the time, vitamins and minerals, full of the day’s vitamins and minerals, what exactly are vitamins and minerals? I mean yeah we all know you get  vitamin C from oranges, and vitamin K is potassium, but what exactly are vitamins and minerals? Vitamins come from plants and animals, and minerals come from soil and water.

There are two types of vitamins, water soluble, and fat soluble. Water soluble vitamins are Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Vitamin C. These all dissolve in water. The fat soluble vitamins include Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and Vitamin K. These all dissolve in fat.

All vitamins are essential. This being said, any diet that excludes a certain food group is excluding the vitamins supplied by this food group, and can lead to vitamin deficiency. Not a good idea, in my opinion. Another good point I’d like to make is that vitamins do not supply calories, nice, huh?

Next let’s talk about minerals, there are two types, are you seeing a pattern? They include Major Minerals, and Trace Minerals. Major minerals occur in large quantities in the body, and are need in large amounts in the daily diet. Whereas Trace minerals occur in minute quantities and are needed in smaller amounts in the daily diet.

Major Minerals include Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Sodium, Chloride, Potassium, and Sulfur. Trace Minerals include Iodine, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Fluoride, Selenium, Chromium, Molybdenum, and Manganese. Although the required amounts of trace minerals are quite small they are very much needed by your body. They all play a specific role in your well being. Just like vitamins, minerals do not supply any calories, WOO-HOO!

I hope this helps, and keep in mind, if you eat a well balanced diet, your body should get all the essential vitamins and minerals it needs. Some of us may need to supplement, for allergies to specific foods, or for other health related reasons. This can be determined by your doctor or nutritionist. Happy Eating!